What exactly is an "archetype"? It's a question I needed an answer to so I could explain it to others. I had a strong intuitive sense of it, through my direct experience of working with archetypal energies, but I could not for the life of me explain it to anyone else.
A collage of the definitions I found: an original model; a prototype; a universally recognized symbol; the structural, energetic form behind the manifested form in physical reality.
Archetypes are indelibly melded with myth, woven through stories and legends across the ages. As the stories and legends are told, we may feel a strong alliance with the archetypal energies deep within our beings. They may evoke strong feelings in us, either resonant or repellant.
Some examples of archetypes are the hero, the warrior, the maiden, the trickster or magician, the Amazon queen, the mother or father, and the list goes on. It is possible to invite our inner archetypes to reveal themselves to us; or we may aspire to particular archetypes that we feel drawn to emulate.
All this comes vibrantly alive in the relationships we have with our own inner archetypes. Do you have a sense of yours? Do you have a strong relationship with any of them? Do you allow them full expression through you? Chances are, there are some you are aware of and others that are more elusive.
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